February 13, 2013 – Who: Rappers Meechy Darko and Zombie Juice, and producer Erick Arc Elliott, grew up together in Brooklyn's Flatbush neighborhood, learning how to make music from a young age while sharing an enthusiasm for the cinematic repertoire of George A. Romero. "We used to watch Night of the Living Dead every night," says Juice. "Every night." From their friendship, the group grew naturally, and around three years ago, they solidified as an official trio. "It wasn't like some Voltron shit where we were like, 'Oh, let's come together and be this great thing!'" says Elliott. "It was more like 'Yo, you wanna come over to the shack?'"Trippy Mane: Elliott bejewels his sometimes-sludgy boom-bap with picturesque synth melodies, a vividly strong foundation for the waviest of Meech and Juice's flows.

January 14, 2013 – When Drake opened the door for rappers who sing as much as they rap, we couldn't have predicted Future, the shiny, trippy, groovy-ass dude whose gravely rasp captured radio's vulnerable heart with hits like "Turn on the Lights" and "Neva End," flipping hip-hop into a headspin in the process. Of course, the Atlantan has exceptional rap aptitude — "Tony Montana" and "Same Damn Time" have kept his name heavy in the streets, their quotable choruses as gargantuan as the street boasts the tall 26-year-old artist hopes to convey. But it's his melancholic singing style — like a solo face-first in a fishbowl or the comforting hum of a cat's purr — that helped him to become a rising and ever-more ubiquitous star in 2012. Pluto, his debut, was re-released mere months after it dropped in 3D format.

January 9, 2013 – Maria "Decida" Wahlberg might well be one of the most creative people in Sweden, but it's not a simple task to encapsulate what she does. She's a fashion plate and impeccable dresser who seamlessly integrates her personal style with the music culture she came up on. She can elevate the Hammer-pant concept with a Damir Doma trouser and black Air Force 1s. She rocks Timbalands with kente pants and a denim jacket like nobody's business, and, best of all, she realizes that Jody Watley is an underrated style icon — and has styled photo shoots accordingly.Wahlberg's aptitude for looking fly has landed her styling and design jobs all over Sweden, mostly with musicians. And though she started out with Beats Melodier & Baby Kaah's 2001 album cover, lately, she's better known as the stylist for pop star Robyn. Those platform Timbs, custom belts, and patchwork moto jackets you see her in?

December 12, 2012 – Jay-Z Illuminati conspiracists will surely find a lot to discuss in Rita Ora's new video for "Radioactive," but style hawkeyes might discover something more pressing: the RocNation rookie is looking like a don diva. Specifically, she's burning up in one of our favorite pop star-outfitting designers, Asher Levine, in the signature texture from his Battlestar Galactica-invoking spring 2013 collection. Her snow leopard power suit has on-duty boss written all over it, but Levine custom-crafted a vinyl catsuit that the video's animators saw fit to translate into her hologram body double (comes in around 2:25), and the space uniform's extra-long-sleeved second skin takes Rita where she's not yet gone before. Also, does this warrant a discussion of the mock turtleneck, and how it can possibly be functional/not dowdy in 2012?

December 10, 2012 – In Rocawear's most interesting — and possibly definitive — move since they had every grown-ass woman clad in velour jumpsuit dresses, the Jay-Z-founded streetwear brand is unleashing a capsule line based on the life and times of Jimi Hendrix. Taking the concept beyond track jackets and Tim-style boots, the Roc has introduced tie-dyed denim jackets and pants, sleek commemorative sweatshirts, and button-downs in a groovy, dandy-paisley print and American flag-inspired star patterns.

December 3, 2012 – It's a fool's game to predict an artist's longevity off their first album, even if you think that first album is genius and was preceded by a jams-rich catalogue. But it would also be disingenuous not call it like we feel it: Frank Ocean has emerged as one of American music's greats, potentially of all time. Not simply a pop star or a sizzling phenom or a young flash on a stylist's resume, though he still blazed through his first-week Billboard charts with the ferocity of Usher and Chris Brown. Frank Ocean is too real.Nostalgia, Ultra, 2011's debut full-length, made us a promise and we fell for the album with the passion and faith of converts, enveloping ourselves in his contemplative sweetness, the satin tenor of his voice. This year's channel ORANGE delivered on that promise, showing the extremes of his depth, and exactly how wide open he truly was.

November 28, 2012 – Nothing says "I love you" like a soft cotton codpiece with an LED light right on the front like a wink, no? Yoko Ono seems to think so. In 1969, the artist sketched out a line of clothing that expressed her love for John Lennon, creating typical conceptual art pieces that emphasized parts of his body that she most adored. They were never constructed, however, until now, 43 years later, in a collaborative collection with Opening Ceremony called "Fashions for Men: 1969-2012," which launched last night at the store's NYC hub with Ono, Sean Lennon, and OC founder Humberto Leon in attendance.As you might have gleaned, consummate artists Lennon and Ono had a special connection, and the collection reflects that: she was into his butt and balls, apparently, and the scoop of flesh around his waist.

November 26, 2012 – Sometime in 2006, at a rooftop photoshoot with Omarion and Bow Wow, I found myself in a conversation with a music executive who was lamenting the state of the industry. At that point, the writing was already on the wall: Major labels were failing miserably to keep up with the speed and innovation of the internet, and the more their profits declined, the more they sought to prosecute the futurists rather than unite with them. This particular employee was lamenting the olden days (in his case, the '90s), when the money flowed like wine, people took helicopters like towncars, and labels would drop a million on a video shoot, no problema. I'll never forget that conversation, because it symbolized both how grossly careless, and awesomely opulent, the music industry could be.

November 19, 2012 – Rihanna is in the midst of her 777 Tour, bringing 250 press and fans along with her band and crew on a chartered plane around the world, performing seven shows in seven countries in seven days — all in the name of promoting her November 19 album Unapologetic. Does that sound as insane as it sounds fun? It totally is.In the last post I predicted mutiny and it was a joke. But sweet baby Jesus, I fucking called it. It actually happened, on the most brutal travel leg of the tour. Because everyone was sad at not seeing Rihanna more than one time and onstage even though she is like 35 feet in front of us, but also, because everyone was completely twisted out their minds. We left Paris at 1 p.m., landed in Berlin at 5 p.m., were shipped on busses directly to a large room attached to the club that, oh yeah, was a power plant during the Third Reich. Dark.

November 18, 2012 – Rihanna is in the midst of her 777 Tour, bringing 250 press and fans along with her band and crew on a chartered plane around the world, performing seven shows in seven countries in seven days — all in the name of promoting her November 19 album Unapologetic. Does that sound as insane as it sounds fun? It totally is.We've traveled through Paris and Berlin, and thanks to extensive delays, haven't seen daylight in days. When we return, our eyes will have shrunken into tiny slots and we will forage on the ground for centipedes and other high-protein foods we can feel with our hands. We will also be chained to Rihanna like Michonne's zombies.1. We no longer remember our lives "before."The plane has become a sovereign airborne colony that fluctuates between madness and murderousness.